These are a Few of My Favorite Things

As the Christmas season formally comes to a close as the first day of the New Year is about to be put to bed, I cannot help but to reflect back. I am always a little sad at this time of the year, for the magic glow that is December is fading and our thoughts turn to the start of a new year and a new chance at doing things the way we REALLY want to do them. This year is going to be different, we say, for I am going to... 

That is the subject of my first post of 2015 which will be coming soon, but before that, I would love to show you some of my favorite things about this past Holiday that has just flown by. They actually both embody some favorite lines that come from The Grinch, and go against what that famous story has to say. They make me giddy with thankfulness that I have the families that I do, that enable me to participate in the shenanigans that we all do, to get ready for, and participate in the season that really is the best of them all.

It all starts with my four siblings and their spouses and our Secret Santa lists right after Thanksgiving. The Santa's are picked and each of the kids pick a cousin to be Santa for as well. The wish lists result in lengthy hilarious emails back and forth concerning the items on these lists. Tripp...are you kidding me? a walking stick with a silver flask on one end and a sword on the other? Is that just in case you run into a hooligan in NC and you have options, either a drink...or a sword fight? 

This year Aunt Jennifer started things with a bang after "finding" two safety cones that were on one of her children's Secret Santa requests from cousin Finn.

Unfortunately, they were on her school's property and she thought she could borrow them and take them all the way to PA.

You can see where this got her...

(no actors were hurt in the filming of this segment) After viewing this carefully crafted piece, we all of course, felt that we had to one up Jenn...we never did, but it definitely set the tone for the gathering that would soon ensue on Christmas Eve and continue for a few days after.

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

The music...

The Trans Siberian Orchestra performance at Christmas...

Baking with my daughter...

The Christmas trees...

and the fact that we all still gather around my parent's tree on Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve at my sisters this year with all four of my siblings present and their families and my parents...a blessing indeed!

Christmas Brunch...it certainly helps that we all like to cook!

Quiet moments on Christmas day...

Babies...

Cousins...whoa...that is a lot of boys!

more cousins...

and more cousins with Legos...

Creatively wrapped gifts by my uber creative sister in law Meg...

Sushi at our adult dinner out, where we tell stories of past Christmas shenanigans...

Mushrooms picked from the wood pile...yes that is correct and then whipped up into a most delicious appetizer by brother Tripp. (Don't worry, we have practically two naturalists/botanists in the family and they put the shrooms through all the testing before we all imbibed)

The decorations...

The good natured fun in the outdoors. Be it Football, soccer or row, row, row, your boat...

The second round of celebrations with my family in laws...the best ever...

Time spent with my grandmother and my children's great grandmother...and ALL of the people that are so much a part of who I am and what I have become...and what I still aspire to be. Loved ones are absent and sometimes it feels as if we are all acting on borrowed time. We have all aged and moved through the stages and challenges in life and have more to face, that is certain, yet this is a time when we gather together to celebrate each other. Quirks, idiosyncrasies, and "drive you crazy" attributes are put aside and seem to mellow in the glow of Christmas. 

It is by no means perfect, ( you did see little Cole playing with pumpkins when it is Christmas right?) except maybe in our own eyes. 

We all would love to crash on the floor like this precious little one once it is over...but it sure is a gift while going on that creates memories that can never be erased for all involved.

"It came with out ribbons! It came without tags!"

"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
             Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

           "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.

              "Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

My sincerest wishes for a Christmas and or Holiday season that was perfect...in your own eyes, for it does not matter what the eyes of others see.

~Meg